CPIO clearly clarified in the Video Conference with Central Information Commissioner and CH.Laxmi Narayana on 21.12.2016 at Guntur Collectorate Office that no GDS employees should work beyond 5 hours. If any such GDS officials working beyond 5 hours no extra payment will be paid.

31/12/2016Meeting with the Staff Side(JCM) on the recommendations of the 7th CPC and their implementation.

31/12/2016

Interoperability of POSB debit cards with bank ATMs sarted.

Waiting is over. Now you can use your POSB ATM cards in all nationalized banks ATMs. It is a new year 2017 gift to all POSB customers by India Post.

See the below images for proof, and check the reference ID in DOP finacle.Note: Withdrawal also Possible in many banks ATM, In some location could not be possible it will be rectified.

30/12/2016

Promotion and Posting in the grade of Director General, Postal services

Sri T.Murthy, Member(O), Postal services Board is promoted as Director General, Dept of Posts in place of Sri i Ashutosh Tripathi retiring on 31.12.2016.

IPPB is a public limited company under the Department of Posts with an independent Board of Directors. It will be headed by a Managing Director and CEO, and will set up a corporate head quarter and up to 650 branches to manage its functions on a day to day basis.

IPPB will leverage the physical and IT infrastructure of the Post office and be set up on a lean operating model. It will focus on low-cost, low-risk, technology based solutions to extend access to formal banking.

Products and Services of IPPB

1. IPPB Payment Services

IPPB will provide the benefits of payments and remittances to the customers, by adopting newer, efficient processes and technologies such as mobile based payments, digital wallets and innovative payment and remittance products that are continuously emerging in the market today.

Combined with doorstep cash payment options like traditional money orders, IPPB will differentiate itself from the other players while comparing well with all other benefits offered by competitors.

IPPB will drive the benefits of financial inclusion by bringing a host of financial products to suit the needs of different strata of society with special focus on the marginalized sections and citizens in rural areas. In so doing it will also provide the following proposed services:

Direct Benefits transfer (DBT) of social security payments of various Ministries.

Utility bill payments for electricity, water, telephone, gas etc.

Facilitate payments of various Central and State Govt& Municipal dues, taxes and fees/taxes of various Universities/ educational institution.

Person to person remittances both domestic and cross-border. Special focus will be on providing, economical, safe and convenient money transfer facilities to migrant labourers, NRIs remitting money to relatives, institutions etc.

Demand Deposits (Current account and Savings Account)- with special focus on MSMEs, small entrepreneurs, village panchayats & SHGs.

Distribution of third party financial products such as Insurance (health & general), mutual funds and pension products.

Access to formal credit products by acting as BCs of banks & MFIs.

Product innovation will be a continuous exercise to expand the bouquet of services adapting to the evolving needs of its customers and the rapid advancements in communication and payments technologies.

2. IPPB Banking Services

Apart from savings account with up to INR 1,00,000 in deposit, the products offered by IPPB are different from POSB products. POSB savings accounts do not have any limit unlike payments bank savings account. On the other hand, payments banks, can offer current accounts for use by businesses and institutions whereas POSB does not offer these accounts. Other kinds of deposits under POSB are unique to it and will not be on offer by the payments bank. The purpose of the savings accounts and current accounts of IPPB is to facilitate flow of money and payments of different kinds from Government to Citizen, Citizen to Government, Citizen to Citizen, Citizen to Businesses and Businesses to Citizens whereas the POSB accounts are mainly savings instruments.

Apart from the existing customers of the DoP, IPPB will focus on the underbanked and unbanked population in different parts of the country. It will also try to target services for MSMEs, senior citizens, students, migrant population, low income households, unorganized sector and other groups with special service requirements. In addition to its own products, the payments bank will partner with third parties to offer a wide range of financial and banking services to cater to the needs of its target segments.

The customers will have the choice of the amount they want to leave in their IPPB account at any point of time and they will earn interest on their money in these accounts also. They would be able to channel money from their IPPB accounts to any of the POSB schemes. For example, an IPPB customer will be able to use money in his account to open and service a RD/ TD/ SSY or any other POSB account. Thus, both IPPB and POSB can synergistically serve the customers.

28/12/2016

Law Ministry rejects Finance move to link small savings to Aadhaar

Ahead of launching the demonetisation drive, the Finance Ministry had sought Law Ministry’s opinion whether Aadhaar submission could be made compulsory for small savings scheme.

The Law Ministry has turned down Finance Ministry’s proposal that a person investing in small savings schemes — these attract gross deposits of over Rs 2 lakh crore each year — be made to link the accounts to his or her Aadhaar number.

Ahead of launching the demonetisation drive, the Finance Ministry had sought Law Ministry’s opinion whether Aadhaar submission could be made compulsory for small savings schemes like Kisan Vikas Patra, Public Provident Fund, National Savings Certificate, Senior Citizen Saving Scheme and Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana.

The rationale put forth by Finance Ministry’s Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) was that individuals evade scrutiny by parking cash below Rs 50,000 into multiple small savings accounts because such deposits (below Rs 50,000) do not seek permanent account number (PAN) details.

The Law Ministry turned down DEA’s proposal on October 4 saying such schemes cannot be notified as “service within the meaning of Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act” since small savings are serviced under the Public Account Fund of India and not the Consolidated Fund to which the Aadhaar Act applies.

Section 7 of the Act states that the government can ask an individual to furnish his Aadhaar number to establish his identity “as a condition for receipt of a subsidy, benefit or service for which the expenditure is incurred from, or the receipt therefrom forms part of, the Consolidated Fund of India”.

Not satisfied with the legal opinion, the DEA once again approached Law Ministry to reconsider the October 4 advice, saying that the fresh reasoning for bringing small savings under the Aadhaar ambit was that the “expenditure incurred to campaign for small savings scheme was derived from the Consolidated Fund”.

On December 14, Law Ministry reiterated its earlier opinion and directed that all transactions relating to these schemes should be accounted from the Public Account Fund as per the National Small Savings Fund (Custody & Investment) Rules.

Quoting a 2001 order of a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, the Law Ministry said “when a statute vests certain power in an authority to be exercised in a particular manner, the said authority has to exercise it only in the manner provided in the statute itself”.

In fiscal 2014-15, deposits in small savings schemes were Rs 289,080 crore while withdrawals were Rs 248,667 crore.

Source: Indian express.

27/12/2016Our Federation forwarded the letter received from NUPE IV to The CPMG, Tamilnadu Circle for necessary action.

Arun Jaitley Says India Needs Lower Taxes To Be Globally Competitive.

Mr Jaitley has spoken earlier too about lower direct and indirect tax rates as last month's demonetisation results in higher tax revenues from unaccounted wealth coming into the system.Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Monday that the country needs to have a lower tax regime to be globally competitive, in comments that experts see as significant as they come just over a month before he presents the Union Budget. The presentation of the Budget for 2017-18 has been advanced to February 1 this time.

"What you need is a broader base of economy for which you need a lower level of taxation. You need to manufacture products and provide services which are more competitive in character and therefore your taxes have to be globally compatible," Mr Jaitley said today while addressing customs and central excise officers at the National Academy of Customs Excise and Narcotics in Delhi suburb Faridabad in Uttar Pradesh.

Mr Jaitley has spoken earlier too about lower direct and indirect tax rates as last month's demonetisation results in higher tax revenues from unaccounted wealth coming into system, and tax experts say the government may announce some income tax relief to taxpayers in the Budget.

"It is anticipated that the government will have some cushion available to reduce the taxes and honest tax payers could be rewarded with some increase in basic exemption limit," said Sandeep Sehgal, director for tax and regulatory at Ashok Maheshwary & Associates LLP.

There are also expectations of a cut in corporate tax cut for India Inc, which has been hit hard by the ban on 500 and 1000 rupee notes and the massive cash crunch that has followed. The Finance Minister had in the Budget for 2015-16 announced a plan to lower the corporate tax rate from the existing 30 per cent to 25 per cent over a four-year time-frame along with a withdrawal of exemptions.

Addressing the tax officials, Mr Jaitley today said gone are the days of the philosophy that high taxation will bring greater revenues and that since 1991, the course of economy has altered itself. He said competition is not merely domestic but global, and therefore, in the last two-and-a-half decades, governments have been guided by these principles.

Mr Jaitley also said that voluntary tax compliance has to increase in India. Extraordinary high taxation rates in the past have led to higher tax evasion, the minister added.

He said there has also been an impression that there is nothing "improper or immoral" about avoiding adding to government revenue. "The mindset of the taxpayer (should be) that payment of legitimate taxes is a responsibility and then it should be reciprocated by you with a confidence in the taxpayer. The tax payer is to be trusted, except when it's proven otherwise. And therefore only in those select cases, very objectively selected, you go in for a wider audit or a wider scrutiny itself," Mr Jaitley said.

Mr Jaitley also said that once the Goods and Services Tax or GST is implemented, the tax base will increase further.

Referring to the new indirect tax regime of GST that is expected to be implemented from the next financial year, Mr Jaitley said that the process of tax convergence is on and cooperation of the Centre and state officers is needed in the process.

Observing that there are no grey areas in criminal or tax laws, Mr Jaitley said stricter principles would need to be applied to detect violation. "There are no grey areas in taxation laws. It's either black or white. It's either payable or not payable. And therefore to discover grey areas in fiscal laws is not possible, that's the same principle that applies to criminal law also, either an offence has been committed or not committed," the finance minister said.

(With agency inputs)

27/12/2016

Due credit not given for extra hours of work- SBI staff.

We’re surprised to note that the overtime amount payable has been reduced unilaterally

Thiruvananthapuram, December 25: Award staff, including the clerical cadre, of State Bank of India (SBI) is upset that it has ‘not been adequately compensated’ for the extra hours of work put in post demonetisation.

The arbitrary manner in which overtime wages were calculated came to light only when December salary was credited on Friday, A Jayakumar, General-Secretary, State Banks Staff Union, said.

Protest demos

Fixation of overtime wages based on an individual’s designation has created a lot of confusion, he told BusinessLine here. The award staff held protest demonstrations in front of the Local Head Office (LHO) here as well as at offices in Ernakulam, Thrissur and Kozhikode on Friday.

The Chief General Manager of the LHO has assured the unions that its concerns would be conveyed to the SBI Corporate Centre in Mumbai, Jayakumar said.

BusinessLine has learnt that overtime was allowed for two hours on November 10 and 11 and for a full day on the two holidays of November 12 and 13 to ‘associates’ (clerical cadre) as following.

(a) whether the Government proposes to implement the recommendations of the Seventh Central Pay Commission(CPC) also for the employees of the autonomous bodies including the Council of Advancement of Peoples Action and Rural Technology(CAPART) and the employees working on contract basis under Central Government;

(b) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and

(c) the details of the amount paid to the employees after implementing the recommendations of the Commission?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE FOR FINANCE(SHRI ARJUN RAM MEGHWAL)

(a) to (c): An appropriate decision in regard to extension of the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission pertaining to pay matters, as already accepted and notified by the Central Government in respect of Central Government employees, in regard to employees of the Quasi-Government Organizations, Autonomous Organizations and Statutory Bodies, etc set up and funded/controlled by the Central Government, would be taken having regard to all relevant factors. However, there is no proposal at present under consideration to extend revised pay based on the 7th Central Pay Commission, as accepted by the Government in case of regular Central Government employees, in regard to contract employees.

26/12/2016

Travelling Allowance claim to the Family of Deceased Govt. Servant: Time Limit of 1 year can be extended

No.19016/1/2015-E.IV

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

Department of Expenditure

North Block, New Delhi

Dated the 21st December, 2016

Office Memorandum

various references are being received
in this Department seeking clarification from this Department as to
whether Rule below SR-148 for admitting Travelling Allowance (TA) claim
by family of deceased employees beyond one year period of the death of
the employee is also covered under GoI decision 2(iii) below Rule SR-147
which provides that ‘TA to Central Government servant on retirement may
be availed of by a Government servant who is eligible for it, at any
time during his leave preparatory to retirement, or within one year of
the date of his retirement and powers to extend the time-limit of one
year will be exercised by the Administrative Ministries/ Departments
with the approval of the FA concerned, in individual cases attendant
with special circumstances.’

2. The matter has been considered in this Department and it has been
decided that the above provision below SR-147 for extension of time
limit of one year with the approval of FA of the concerned Ministry,
will also be applicable in case of family of the deceased Govt. servant.

Restrictions on cash withdrawals may continue beyond December 30

NEW DELHI: Restrictions on withdrawal of cash from banks and ATMs are likely to continue beyond December 30 as currency printing presses and RBI have not been able to keep pace with the demand of new currency notes.

As the 50-day deadline for completion of demonetisation+ process draws near, there is a growing consensus among bankers that the restrictions on withdrawal would have to continue even in the New Year so as to maintain orderly working at the banks.

Banks at many places are not in a position to disburse even the current limit of Rs 24,000 per week due to cash crunch and are rationing the valid currency depending on cash availability.

If this limit is withdrawn for individual and businesses from January 2, it is unlikely that banks would be able to disburse the higher demand for valid currencies given the current cash position.

"Most of us think that the withdrawal limit would not be completely withdrawn. It is a possibility that it could be relaxed if the cash situation improves," said a senior public sector bank official.

At a time when banks are struggling to meet the demand of individual customers, it would be impossible to service MSME and big corporates which requires cash in large quantity, the official said, the practical way would be to relax it gradually.

Recently, SBI Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya had also indicated that restriction on withdrawals cannot be lifted entirely unless more cash is made available to banks.

After the demonetisation of high-value Rs 500/1000 notes, the government has fixed a limit of Rs 24,000 per week on withdrawal from bank accounts and Rs 2,500 per day from ATMs in view of the currency crunch that followed.

The government and RBI has not specified when the restrictions will be withdrawn. Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa had said the withdrawal cap would be will be reviewed after December 30

Even bank unions are also of the opinion that the restrictions cannot be done away with in one go. In all likelihood the restriction on withdrawal would continue for some more time in the best interest of banks as well as customers at large, said All India Bank Officers'

The situation of currency supply is known to everyone and it would be difficult to lift the limit from January 2, Singh said, adding that SME and small businesses are waiting for cap to go so that they can withdraw as per their requirement.

Source Times of India.

Read below seasonal message of thanks to all affiliates from UNI Global Union General Secretary Philip Jennings and Deputy General Secretary, Christy Hoffman
"Dear Colleagues,
The ancient ironic Chinese saying, “May you live in interesting times”, is an apt description of what we have experienced in 2016. From Brexit, through the neo-liberal wave sweeping across Latin America, to Korea and Trump’s election, 2016 has thrown up one crisis after another. No continent, country, or worker has been left unmoved by a globalization seemingly hell-bent on following the path to the bottom, by growing the income and inequality divide. Do not be in any doubt that UNI Global Union and its affiliates are ready to meet these challenges as we approach a new year, a traditional time of renewed hope. We have an obligation and a desire to stand up for working people, where-ever they are and however they may have voted.
Let’s not forget that in amongst the doom and gloom has been the shining example of Colombia, which, greatly aided by our Colombian affiliates, has chosen the path to peace. Colombia was the final destination this year for a successful cycle of UNI regional conferences. Starting with UNI Apro in Kuala Lumpur, this year has seen a series of brilliant conferences including UNI Europa’s in Rome in March and UNI Americas’ in Medellin in December. The cycle of regional conferences will be completed in March at UNI Africa in Dakar, Senegal. To all our affiliates who have been involved in these flagship events - a huge thank you.
In 2016, the world took notice that inequality is bad for economies, investment and jobs. Inequality is leading a descent into the ugly divisive populism of the extreme right. We know the size of the challenge - the results of the Brexit referendum and Trump’s election either side of the Atlantic, shocked the world and has plunged us into a spiral of economic and political uncertainty. These protest votes - nourished by hate, xenophobia and rage against a political elite which ignores the needs of the people – show the risks of division. The rise of inequality has shown how pertinent our inclusive call of “Including you” has been over recent years. We must be wary of populism, reject hate and reject terror. With these multiple challenges and the false claims that the era of globalisation is over our work was never more important or vital.
Around the world, we have seen a closing of democratic spaces and we must continue to Break Through for union growth, organising and freedom. We look forward to facing the major challenges of 2017 together. The run-up to the new year is not only a time of quiet reflection, but a moment to form new resolutions for the up-coming year. UNI’s resolution is simple – we will continue our commitment to workers’ rights as an inalienable part of their human rights. We can overcome the obstacles; we have the leaders, we have the ideas, we can grow unions and we will Make It Happen on the road to our UNI Global World Congress in Liverpool in 2018.
The UNI Global Union family joins together to send our heartfelt condolences to the victims of terror in 2016, including the most recent attacks this week. We also send sincere messages of solidarity to two embattled and inspirational figures, Brother Han, the head of the KCTU in Korea facing three years in jail for exercising his democratic right to protest and our own UNI Global President, Ann Selin who is bravely fighting illness.
I would like to end this year by thanking you all for your support in realizing our common goals. I also wish to thank you all, brothers and sisters, for your determined struggle to build an equal global society built on social inclusion, fairness and democracy.
We wish you all a peaceful and restful holiday period and a happy, successful 2017."
Yours in solidarity,
Philip Jennings & Christy Hoffman

Circle Office Lunch Hour Demonstration…

#ProtestWeek

# FNPO KERALA CIRCLE

FNPO KERALA Circle leaders giving memorandum to secretary to Governor as he is on tour.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the government would not shy away from taking difficult decisions such as demonetisation even if it brought short-term pain. He asked the “dishonest” to fear the wrath of the people, and warned that the time for their “ruin” was on its way.

“Ab jo samay aa rahaa hai woh beimaanon ki barbaadi ka waqt hai. Desh ki bhalai ke liye ye swachhta ka abhiyaan hai (The time for the ruin of the dishonest is coming. This is a movement to clean up the country),” Modi said at the Bhoomi Pujan ceremony for the Shivaji Memorial in Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC).

He advised the hoarders of black money to submit to the law of the land and live in peace. “Ye sarkar aapko tabah karne ke liye tuli nahi hai. Aapko faansi pe chadhane ke liye tuli nahi hai. Lekin jo gareebon ke haq ka hai woh to aap ko chukaana hi padega, aapko bakhsha nahin jayega (This government doesn’t want to destroy you, it doesn’t want to hang you. But you will have to pay the dues of the poor. You will not be spared),” the Prime Minister said.

Speaking earlier at the inauguration of the new campus of the National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM) in Raigad in Maharashtra, Modi said the government would follow “prudent” economic policies, and put long-term gain over short-term pain.

“We will not take decisions for short-term political point-scoring. We will not shy away from taking difficult decisions, if those decisions are in the interest of the country. Demonetisation is an example. It has short-term pain but will bring long-term gain,” he said.

On November 8, Modi had announced the scrapping of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes to curb corruption and black money. A few days later, he asked for 50 days for demonetisation to work — a deadline that ends on December 30.

In his 37-minute speech at BKC, the Prime Minister said, “Maine kahaa tha pachaas din tak takleef hoti rahegi aur deshwasiyon ne desh ke bhavishya ke liye in takleefon ko jhela hai. Aage bhi jitne din baaki hain jo bhi takleef aayegi desh jhelne ke liye taiyyar hai, ye mera vishwas hai (I had said that people would have to face hardships for 50 days. For the future of the nation, people have borne this burden. In the remaining days too, people are ready to face whatever hardships come their way. This is my firm belief.).”

“Pachaas din ke baad imaandar logon ki takleef kam honi shuru hogi aur beimaanon ki takleef badhni shuru hogi (The troubles of the honest will start reducing after December 30. But for those who are corrupt, the problems will increase.),” he said.

In Raigad, Modi said that in the last three years his government had “transformed” the Indian economy, as it had cut the fiscal deficit target and achieved it every year, narrowed the current account deficit, and reduced inflation.

“By claiming that demonetisation has stopped a fast-moving car, our critics too have acknowledged the speed of our progress,” he said.

The decision to advance the date of the Budget to February 1 would improve the productivity of the government’s programmes, the Prime Minister said. “The Budget cycle has an effect on the real economy. In our existing Budget calendar, the authorisation of expenditure comes with the onset of the monsoon. Government programmes are not active in the productive pre-monsoon months. Hence, this year, we are advancing the date of the Budget so that expenditure is authorised by the time the new financial year begins. This will improve productivity and output,” he said.

The primary aim of India’s stock markets should be to help raise capital for productive purposes such as infrastructure, and to provide benefits to farmers, Modi said.

“The true measure of success is the impact in villages, not the impact in Dalal Street or Lutyens’ Delhi. By that yardstick, we have a long way to go. Our stock markets need to raise capital in innovative ways for projects in agriculture,” he said.

“Our commodity markets must become useful to our farmers, not just avenues for speculation. People say that derivatives can be used by farmers for reducing their risks. But in practice, hardly any farmer in India uses derivatives. That is the fact. Unless and until we make the commodity markets directly useful to farmers, they are just a costly ornament in our economy, not a useful tool,” he said.

Modi added that entities and individuals who profit from financial markets need to “make a fair contribution to nation-building through taxes”, as their tax contributions continue to be low. It was time to “re-think” the contribution of market participants to the exchequer, he said.

“To some extent, the low contribution of taxes may also be due to the structure of our tax laws. Low or zero tax rate is given to certain types of financial income. I call upon you to think about the contribution of market participants to the exchequer. We should consider methods for increasing it in a fair, efficient and transparent way,” Modi said.

He also asked the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to work for closer linkage of spot markets such as the electronic National Agricultural Market (e-NAM) with the derivatives markets to benefit farmers.

Modi said the long awaited Goods and Services Tax (GST) will soon be a reality. He expressed disappointment at the absence of a municipal bond market in the country, and asked Sebi and the Department of Economic Affairs to ensure that at least 10 Indian cities issue municipal bonds in the next one year.

“You are all aware of the huge capital requirements for improving urban infrastructure. This government has launched an ambitious Smart Cities programme. In this context, I am disappointed that even now, we do not have a municipal bond market. There will be problems and difficulties in creating such a market. But the true test of an expert innovation is when it solves a complex problem,” Modi said.

Employees Association (AIBEA) and the All India Bank Officers Association (AIBOA) have given a call for demonstration against the problems that various banks and their employees were facing due to demonetisation.

They plan to undertake demonstrations on December 28, followed by the unions addressing a letter to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on December 29. The unions also plan to stage demonstrations on the issue on January 2 and 3.

AIBEA general secretary C.H. Venkatchalam and his AIBOA counterpart S. Nagrajan, in a statement issued on Tuesday, said: “As per the call of our organisations, already our units have undertaken the programme of demonstrations in all major centres and met the local executives of the RBI to hand over our memorandum.”

The unions have demanded supply of adequate cash to all banks and branches, restoration of all ATMs without further delay and transparency in cash supply to banks.

“If the RBI is not able to supply adequate cash to banks, then decision should be taken to suspend cash transactions in the bank branches till sufficient cash is supplied to banks,” the statement said.

They also demanded a CBI inquiry into the cases of seizure of huge number of new currency with some persons when bank branches are cash starved.

The unions demanded compensation to the families of the persons and bank staff who lost their lives recently due to demonetisation.

They asked the RBI and State governments to ensure safety and protection of bank employees and officers by maintaining law and order in all branches to prevent harassment of the staff.

The Bank employees also demanded proper compensation to employees and officers for their extra work/late sittings done in the last more than a month.

Both the unions claim to have over 5.50 lakh members out of the nearly 9 lakh bank employees in the country.

Government Clarification on Amendment to Payment of Wages Act

It is seen from the media reports that there is a general impression that is being created that the Government is bringing an amendment to the Payment of Wages Act to make mandatory the payment of wages to the workers only through cheque or accounts transfers. This is not the correct position.

It is clarified that the government proposes to bring an amendment to Section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act which will further provide crediting the wages in the bank account of the employees or payment through cheque along with the existing provisions of payment in current coin or currency notes.

This is being done to facilitate the employers from making payment of wages using the banking facilities also in addition to the existing modes of payment of wages in current coin or currency notes.

Also, the appropriate Government (Centre or State) will have to come up with the notification to specify the industrial or other establishments where the employer shall pay wages through cheque or by crediting the wages in employees’ bank account. It is, therefore, clear that the option of payment through cash is still available with the employers for payment of wages.

It may be understood that the Payment of Wages Act was passed in the year 1936 (eighty years ago) and the situation prevailing at that point of time has completely undergone a technological revolution. Most of the transactions now take place through the banking channels. The proposal of Ministry of Labour and Employment to bring an amendment to Section 6 of the Act is an additional facility of crediting the wages in the bank account of the employees or payment through cheque along with the existing provisions of payment in current coin or currency notes.

The above proposed amendment will also ensure that minimum wages are paid to the employees and their social security rights can be protected. Thus the employers can no longer under-quote the number of employees employed by them in their establishments to avoid becoming a subscriber to the EPFO or ESIC schemes.

It is also pointed out that the states like Andhra Pradesh/Telangana, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Haryana have already come out with notifications to provide for payment through banking channels.

Today SG, FNPO met CPMG, Haryana Circle along with P3, R3 Circle Secretaries and discussed various issues of Haryana Circle. CPMG assured to settle the issues raised in the meeting. More details will be published in Sentinal.